Climax

Boom!

A bolt of lightning thicker than Ince Zangwill's body struck precisely where he stood. His spiritual intuition warned him at the last moment, letting him dodge, but his monstrous body—with four arms sprouting from his ribs and joints bent backward—had to change direction. He missed his chance to leave Resurrection Square.

His new limbs, covered in white feathers, slapped helplessly against the ground. Teeth jutted one by one past his lips, and the flesh of his face writhed. He no longer looked human, yet rage still burned in his dark-red eyes.

Who was it? Who kept striking him with lightning but didn't dare show themselves?

Ince Zangwill's gaze wandered as his reason faded. It settled on Daly Simone, who had closed her eyes against his Incomplete Mythical Creature Form and was feeling around for shelter.

Roar!

His grotesque body, a fusion of a demonic wolf and a Feathered Serpent's mythical forms, sprang forward. He lunged to bite this insect obstructing his escape to death.

At the same time, he kept spreading the power of Slumber, trying to drag Daly and Leonard into a dream and strike the hidden attacker, wherever they were.

But another bolt landed squarely in his path. It seemed intended not to hit him, but to block him and keep him there.

Seizing the opening, Daly followed her memory and slipped into a building without the aid of sight, escaping that body whose mere appearance could make her explode.

Above her, over the building, an illusory Bronze Gate formed in an instant. Its doors slowly swung inward. Skinless, blood-soaked arms and heads wreathed in pale flames crowded the gap, ready to squeeze through.

Sensing this, Ince Zangwill had to divert his attention to wrest control of the Underworld's evil spirits from the female Gatekeeper and shut